Certainly not promising but maybe not impossible. I think the fact he was willing to come with us once was telling. If we'd have given him a more important role in the team rather than giving him garbage minutes off the bench he may have even stuck with us.
Obi actually chose to play for England ahead of Denmark a year ago in a tournament they were both involved in - much to lamentation of the Danish FA. Then get left on the bench except for a few scant minutes and decided to go back to Denmark unsurprisingly for the Montaigu tournament. Not really helping ourselves with this kind of player management.
Yeah, it does kind of feel like bad management in this case unless there were unknown reasons why he only got a few minutes here and there but even just for experience at a young age and going to a tournament a long way from home you would expect everyone to get a decent amount of playing time to be happy with. I don’t think these sort of issues should be happening when dealing with young players as results at this stage aren’t the most important aspect in my opinion.
He was due to start the last game of that tournament (against Denmark incidentally) but got injured. Had he done so the minutes of the three strikers there (Mheuka & Fletcher being the other two) would've been fairly equal.
Aha, thanks for clearing that up as thought it sounds unusual. So really there was nothing the management could do really so I don’t think we can conclude that a lack of playing time was responsible for him switching to Denmark.
Yep. I don't think youth team managers should even be responsible for picking the squads personally. I know the FA already have some input with squad selections at certain age groups, but I think they should have an independent department of teams of people who pick the squads to make sure players with higher ceilings are always prioritised over players that are more conducive to near-term results.
Can Chido even play competitive competitions for England at this stage, are we certain he eligible yet? Hardly surprising he’s chosen to play for Denmaek U17s in Euro qualifiers.
There is no way he can be eligible at this point. Barely spent time in the country. There seems a big moral issue about picking him that is being ignored on here too. It seems very possible that he only came to this country to play for a professional academy. He was already good enough for a high level academy when he arrived here.
I have always wondered about that with him. Did Arsenal really get him legally? Not that other clubs haven't done the same, mind you.
I doubt they did get him legally but it would be hard to prove. Arsenal have taken players from the same club before. Bendtner (who came young but about 16?) and another player before him in the early 2000’s.
James Scanlon is coming on at United. United's u18 side has demolished the league this season and should win it by a margin. They beat Liverpool 9-1 last week. He's English born with an English dad and a Gibraltan mum. He's already a Gibraltar international but not tied to them yet. James Scanlon! What a finish! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/FYJNqXE7i4— utdreport Academy (@utdreportAcad) April 13, 2024 He might hard to convince as his mum competed for Gibraltar in athletics. His younger brother is also in the United academy. Despite us potentially missing out on two good talents it would interest me to see how a microstate side like Gibraltar could do if they had a couple of PL level players. Another dual at United Ethan Wheatley is improving quite a lot this season. He qualifies for Malaysia. I wonder how far he is from a callup to our u18s or 19s.
It looks like he’s played Nations league games for Gibraltar so would have to basically stop playing them and file a one time switch if he want to play for England.
Looking at this article it says Chido and his brother moved to London in 2020 when his mother came over to study here. So he would have been 12 and qualify next year through residency and 5 year schooling rule. All depends on getting a passport of course with the normal bureaucratic delays complicating things but he ought to be able to play for us officially by Under-19 level. I'm sure the FA wouldn't have bothered picking him if he was never going to be eligible.
Whatever age he came here (I think there are about three different dates claimed) they all made it impossible to cap him at U17 level. The possibility that his Mother came here to study during COVID lockdowns is quite something. Who has claimed he was never going to be eligible? I’m not sure why this part keeps getting brought up. The FA obviously know about him, made the relevant advances and have invited him into the set up but these assumptions that we had some type of strong position to convince him makes little sense.
I doubt he’s got a British passport and presumably never had any desire to play for England. Assuming you think he is as you’ve asked this question a few time, probably best to let it go.
FA policy seems to be to get players involved in youth teams as soon as possible on the awareness that they will be formally eligible at 18. Given the underage teams are about producing players for the future England senior side that makes sense as if they just don't pick them they are more likely to lose out in the long run. International football is a competitive business with so many of our kids with multiple eligibility so if we don't compete as hard as everyone else we'll end up losing all potential England players to other countries, except for the fewer and fewer that are only eligible for England.
To be fair his connection to England on the face of it is somewhat stronger than his connection to the Netherlands where he left as a child. He doesn't even speak Dutch. His relationship with the Dutch team has been pretty fractious thus far also. Still given England's relative strength in the position i'm not sure he'll really qualify as a loss. Doesn't seem like the England right back production line is coming to an end any time soon, what with our under 21's having Livramento and Lewis.
Not sure on that. He came here at the age of seven so will have memories of his time in Holland. Whilst he may of forgotten how to speak Dutch for a lot of people where they were born is where they are from, especially if they remember part of their life there.
I can't speak for everyone of course, but of the numerous people i've known born in another country who left young, not one considers themselves that nationality (unless there's a family connection). Of course it could be different for any individual, but I wouldn't say its likely for someone with no familial connection to that country, neither speaking the language so never consuming the culture. By way of example, i'd be staggered if Giovanni Reyna considered himself English.
Haaland also, I'm sure you'd get unanimous dissent on here for suggesting that his birthplace was more significant than the main country of his upbringing and his parentage in terms of his national identity.
There is video evidence of Frimpong saying he would never play for England. So, anyone considering him a loss needs their head testing.
Again, nobody has said this doesn’t happen. Nobody is against the FA doing this We do compete. We are very good at it.
Haaland said in an interview that if they stayed longer in England then maybe he'd be English. They left when he was 4. He certainly seems to have an affinity for England and enjoys being here even though he'll remember little of his time as a child here. Reyna left England after just turning 5 so will have few memories. That said, both Haaland and Reyna's fathers were international footballers for Norway and USA respectively. They both spent most of their childhood in the countries that their father's played for so it's normal that they play for the same countries.